First it was more than the UK. Then more than Portugal. Then a month ago we said that as of September, "it is now safe to say that in 2012 alone China has imported more gold than the ECB's entire official 502.1 tons of holdings." Sure enough, according to the latest release from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, through the end of August, China had imported a whopping gross 512 tons of gold, 10 tons more than the latest official ECB gold holdings. We can now safely say that as of today, China will have imported more gold than the 11th largest official holder of gold, India, with 558 tons.

Yet despite importing more gold than the sovereign holdings of virtually all official entities, save for ten, importing more gold in July than in any month in 2012 except for April, importing more gold in 8 months in 2012 than all of 2011, and importing four times as much between January and July than as much as in the same period last year, here is MarketWatch with its brilliant conclusion that the 'plunge' in gold imports in August can only be indicative of the end of the Chinese gold market, and the second coming of infinitely dilutable fiat.

“China’s near-term appetite for gold appears to be waning as bullion imports from Hong Kong slow,” HSBC analysts said in a note following the data release last week.

Anecdotal evidence also pointed to the cooling trend, with one Hong Kong bullion dealer saying the word from mainland clients was that gold inventories are saturated.

“What we are hearing from our customers is that they were buying gold rapidly over the last couple of years, but they would now see some of their stocks sold off before they rebuild some of their inventories,” Scotia Mocatta managing director Sunil Kashyap said in Hong Kong.

There is spin, and there is of course, reality. We urge readers to identify where on the chart below is the evidence of Chinese disillusionment with gold:

Furthermore, with the status quo cartel in desperate need of China stepping up its monetary easing, and jumping right into the race to debase, which is absolutely critical to halt the plunge in tech company revenues and earnings, any interim slowdown in purchases is merely a springboard for even more purchase in the future once inflation does come back to China with a bang.

Incidentally, one thing that MarketWatch completely forgot about is that in Q4 Chinese gold purchasing, all monetary else equal, is set to spike in Q4. From the South China Seas:

Fung expects gold imports on the mainland to stay soft this month as prices have continued to remain high.

"However, gold consumption is likely to climb again in the fourth quarter, a traditionally peak season when Chinese people buy gold jewellery for weddings and presents," he added.

All rhetoric aside, one unspinnable aftereffect of China's relentless appetite for gold comes from a different place, namely Australia, where gold just surpassed coal as the second most valuable export to China. From Bullionstreet:

Australia's gold sales to China hit $4.1 billion in the first eight months of this year as it surged by a whopping 900 percent.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, the yellow metal became the second most valuable physical export to China, surpassing coal and only behind iron ore.

The unprecedented jump in gold sales, along with continued acceleration of export revenues for other commodities led by coal, up 80 per cent to $4bn, caused total exports to China to rise by 10.7 per cent for the year to August, the Bureau said.

Perth Mint supplied most of the gold to China through a variety of banks.

Analysts said Chinese buyers are hoarding the precious metal amid a slowing economy, property-buying restrictions and uncertain financial markets as its central bank increases its holdings.

China's foreign currency reserves of gold are low and its move to build them up will provide an important base demand for gold, they added.

In other words, take the chart above, showing only Chinese imports through HK, and add tens if not hundreds more tons of gold entering the country from other underreported export channels such as Australia. One thing is certain: China no longer has any interest in buying additional US Treasurys. What it does have an interest in is up to readers to decide.

So in 2009 they reported 1000 something tonnes. What they bought from other countries are not reported, and so is not their production. Now rough calculation: 300 t from domestic prod, 500 from Hong-Kong, other countries lets say 200 t. It's around 1000 t a year. In my view they should have at least 4000 t by now but probably is higher and when I calculate my budget I take about 25% error, to down side, but in their case is on upside and who really knows. The process will intesify in coming months. Dollars for gold! You want $ sell your gold and they don't want $.

By stating 'they' have 4,000 tonnes, who do you mean? You are grouping all end-users, funds, companies, individual investors - and the biggest group of gold buyers of all in China, those who buy jewelry - as one and the same as government coffers.

A lot of the gold imported is to satiate domestic end-user demand and investment (plus all the gold products sold at banks), which has been rising phenomenally year on year in China.

Yes, the government reported 1000 tonnes, but implying all imported gold, all domestic production etc since then is going straight into government coffers is wrong.

When treasuries implode, gold becomes even more valuable. It's a win-win for China.

It just makes me wonder that prices for PMs did not go through the roof already with the recent thoughts to just wipe out debt, for example within the BoE, which will reduce almost any credibility into paper treasuries.

when treasuries explode one currency is set to gain above all...the Euro! Their balance sheet has 10,000+ ton on the left hand side. If Ts go to zero gold explodes and the Euro is the only currency standing...and this was by design!

Win for who in China? What is the average per capita gold holding for the masses in China? Surely it is in the tenths of an ounce of gold at most. Did you ever even bother to use your mind! Simple math tells you that there isn't 1.2 billion oz (36,000 tonnes) of gold in China and even if there were, it wouldn't be mostly in the hands of the masses in China.

On a gold discipline, how are they supposed to keep their low (and negative) profit margin economy afloat without the ability to print $40+ billion in reverse repos per week as they've been doing?

You really don't understand that China is a ponzi system that has been sustained on stealing from the productivity of its citizens to subsidize monopolies in uneconomic activity. For the short-term you are mesmerized by the nominal increases in hard resource effects, because you are mathematically blind:

On ZH, people that you've refuted in the past come and downvote just because they hate you, regardless of the logic being presented, e.g. ebear and others who have made fools of themselves in the past.

Chinese men can only pick on their own weak skinny Chinese women. If these weaklings try to starve or roll an American woman in the flour, they would get smacked around so hard that their 3 inches dicks would look like wet noodles.

I used to read MW so I could post comments with facts to refute their idiotic stories, but their sheer determination to stick their head in the sand made me so angry with all the stupid quotes and utter rubbish, I gave up.

If everyone is being taught to hold a little gold by financially diversifying their portfolios(5%-10% precious metals) then gold is being seen as a form of insurance.Look at world population figures doubling again soon.Seems like an excellent long term trend trade to me.Now central banks must compete against ordinary people and other financial instruments for gold.None of them trust politicians.You must understand that you just rent a bunch of political crooks until the next batch of idiots get into power and get the government even deeper into the hole.I sure don't trust any politicians and when you talk to people,everyone knows that democracy is just as corrupt as communism.Gold is the perfect trust between you and itself.Remember one thing,it was the American government that confiscated gold from its own people.As a trader,don't ever count out studying Options that are far out down the road.Options always trade,even during "lock limit" on futures contracts.Believe me,that type of volatility will return,the crooks are doing their hard-up,very best to stop the financial collapse.The head of the IMF just told us all that,but in a polite fashion.

This proves the Chinese are stupider than we thought. Remember when it was cool to sell high to foreigners like the Japanese in 89 and what could have been the Chinese Unocal in 05? Well the USD hasn't made a new low in 4 years despite all the noise from the sino arab clan and as a contrary indicator just look at iron ore, the greatest bubble of them all ( sing it to Whitney< not Tilson!) as proof that Chinese mass tulipmania of ANY commodity is pure stupidity and bell ringing. Best sell the physical just as in April 11 when the cartoons proclaimed we HAD to own Silver right at the top ( $48 ) long ago. For those keeping score gold peaked way back in August 2011 and recently failed @ $1800 despite plenty of excuses to rally. Off topic GLD will be the next major scam. If you haven't read the prospectus of this single listed POS be forewarned any missing gold, dealers, tungsten or lack of a market when you need it most is without recourse and the burden falls 100% upon shareholders. Oh, if gold ever REALLY posed a threat to the dollar it would be subject to confiscation, again. Korea '97 anyone?

A deluge of an unprecedented magnitude is both inevitable and imminent. The consequences of the economic and political mismanagement will have a devastating impact on the world for a very long time. And the consequences will touch most corners of the world in so many different areas; economic, financial, social, political and geopolitical.

Continued monstrous imports of tons of gold into China, continued hoarding of gold from sources within their own country (no exporting allowed), massive reduction of U.S. Treasuries purchases, continued build up of infrastructure components for China using their stockpile of U.S. dollars and debt for their purchases, etc... Regardless of your feelings for China, they anticipate big changes in the global financial structure and are taking steps to prepare for whatever it is that they believe is going to happen. They are putting their gold where their mouth is. Some of us here are doing the same thing in spite of what the naysayers are spouting. Some of us have nothing to do with PMs. God bless the countries where people are free to choose what they want to do or what they do not want to do. We know something(s) big are going to happen in the near future. We know it will be life changing for everyone. We don't know exactly what or exactly when, but as sure as each new day dawns, change is coming. Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Perhaps the Chinese have found some use for it, or maybe it them.
The more you have the more it has you. When there is food on the table there are many problems -- when there is no food on the table there is one problem.

I think Bernanke cut a deal with the Chinese .... we will suppress the Gold price and give you a chance to accumulate some .... you don't have to buy anymore treasuries .... just hold off on dumping what you've got until after the election !

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Volatility Is Entering The Lower Level Stocks, Here Is a Stock That Was Just Approved For Training International Pilots At There Flight School. They Are Going From No Revs To $980,000 In revs within the next 30 days. With a current float of less than 5 million shares this is going to really be a mover. Right now sitting at the 52 week low around a penny the new valuation will place them undervalued by rougly 4,000% +. Last time on just news of them applying the stock ran clise to 600%. Monday and Tuesday trading day there should be upwards of those gains and potentially even more. Here is a great Ceo interview and research report that came out just today! The community is buzzing over this stock! Opportunity is all over the market, you just need to know where to look! This group provides full transparenc and is up 2,033% for the year. Watch Tomorrow http://www.stocklegends.com/quasar-qasp/

More than Portugal? Hmmm. More than Portugal. LET'S GO TO THE VIDEO TAPE YOU FAUX GOLD LOVERS! Hmmm. Interesting. More gold in Portugal...per person...than in the USA. I see Switzerland is number one. HAHAHAHAHA. But that's all reypohetcated shit so we can ignore that. Who else...hmmm. Germany? That's U.S gold actually so all that is owned there is in fact owned by the USA. Who else...LEBANON! of course..."the mighty Lebanese Gold hoard!" (Scratch them off the list.) That leaves Italy, France and the Netheralands...and Julius Baer. Otherwise known as....the E....C....B. Soon to be....KAPUT. Which means....http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-21/gold-makes-dead-portuguese-dict... hmmm. Wise man. "sell tungsten for gold make Portuguese very rich" say famous native American. And of course "you can't use the gold for Government expenses"...which is kind of important...if your using...EURO'S. Anywho...it's Sunday...the Jets JUST made the spread...eh, terrible loss. The world mourns! And people still...still...still wonder. Is this all but a betting game? One look at that Portuguese dictator will tell you: ABSOLUTLEY NO PHUCKING WAY! This is about HUMAN WILL AND FAITH sheeple...and either you gotz...or you don't gotz. And right now it would appear...Portugal...

Well Canada seems determined to retain the status quo. Mines in BC turned in spite of lots of jobs. A company that jumped all the hoops of the enviro, cultural and all things PC reports they did it as per what was wanted. Successfully yet the Premier still tanked it. Big overseas acquisitions being flat rejected.

The successful sale of Vancouver to China. Only lord knows who got the money but China as sure as the sun will rise got the city. Is this the dismantaling of a country one piece at a time. Maybe them sure is a lot of resources to be divided.

And I have absolutely nothing pithy to say just my jaw slowly dropping as I watch a country get

gutted and dam don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Wonder who gets the East.

Like watching a CP and CN freight on the same track steaming towards each it will have WOW!

For the long-term investor buying gold bullion and have it stored in a certified vault is an alternative not to be overlooked.

Coins are ok for a small commitment. However, for those of greater net worth, it would be suicidal to store big chunks of wealth at home.

Gold bullion has two distinct advantages for the investor in size: It is not expensive as storage costs don't exceed 0.2% a year (which is cheaper than the expense ratio of GLD), and it provides an additional layer of safety.

More on the importance of holding physical gold versus GLD and the time frame where each form of holding gold belongs, here:

Most of the comments here frame these events in terms of national self interest (i.e. China vs Europe vs US). I see it more as Private Bankers vs Average Citizens, in which case consolidation of power, undermining individual freedom, and starting wars is the real goal.

Shelby, you are a new type of troll on ZH, one who is here apparently only for ego gratification (although perhaps there are some others here who also comment for that reason). By daring anyone to challenge your immense intellect, you have moved the discussion from the point of the article to some point nearer to your blog/opus. While the comments section is free form, most folks try to include some reference to the article. The article merely states that the Chinese (govt? mafia? citizenry? cronies?) are accumulating gold at a prodigious pace. Knowing the cartel's antics in gold price suppression (which does not imply that we know the cartel's motives), one wonders what the US end game is, as the current situation involves a huge transfer of wealth (read: claim on resources) to the East. So the cartel, led by JPMorgan, the wet works team for the US Fed, is assisting the Chinese 'players' (whoever is benefitting, now or in the future) in looting the wealth of the West, which can only result in a huge downsizing of life style in the US. This is certainly consistent with Obummer's strategy (Cloward-Piven?), which may be why he was elected. But the folks who elected him are the same economically useless eaters you identify as not being knowledge workers. This is surely the real problem of the way our society worldwide is organized, or has failed to be organized, as it is based on supporting the majority of the population in economically meaningless activities, which could be more economically performed by robots, if a sufficiently cheap energy source could be found to power the robots. Then we would be ready to prove that silicon based life forms are superior to carbon based forms, and we could do away with the excess population. Is that the end game of your knowledge based civilization?